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Please help me to save PIZZA

I am an average home cook. There are dishes that I can do quite well, then there are those that will be just OK and than there is pizza.

This cry comes after my yesterdays attempt that failed so miserably that there was barely something to eat

I know that I can not really make 'true' pizza with an electric oven, but I would like to be able to produce at least acceptable results that me and my family could enjoy.

I have tried several ways to make the dough, but it nearly always turns into dry pad instead of nice, bread-like smelling crunchy&soft pizza base. I am probably doing wrong several things at a time, so I am not going to bore you with a description of my procedure.

So, would some of you more experienced/gifted share a recipe & how-to make some decent pizza at home kitchen conditions? My marriage does not depend on it, but me self esteem does

When mixing your dough, mix it for a long time in order to make sure that the gluten is fully developed. I'm talking ten-fifteen minutes on medium in a domestic mixer, followed by a decent amount of time to rest before you work it again to roll it into balls, followed by ample time to prove the dough - underproved dough can be a bit like leathery cardboard, overproved dough can be like leathery crackers.

Your dough should be as moist as you can handle it, when you mix it it should only pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl in the last few minutes of mixing - this may take some trial and error. The higher the protein of the flour you are using the more water it will be able to take.

As far as your oven goes, turn it up as far as it can possibly go and add some thermal mass to produce some radiant heat. A commercial pizza stone is fine, but so is a layer of ceramic house bricks on the bottom of your oven.

Adding thermal mass to a domestic oven can improve its performance substantially.

I'm at home and don't have my pizza dough recipe on me, but I'll try and remember to post it here in a couple of days, when I go back to work I'll look it up.

Put the water & yeast together for 10 minutes to activate, then combine all the ingredients to form a dough, knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth & elastic. Place in a covered bowl to rise for an hour or so. Knock the dough back and divide into 3.
Roll each piece of dough into a tight ball. Allow to rest for at least half an hour.

Now roll out onto a tray, if you want it fluffier, allow to prove again once it's rolled out for 15 -20 minutes.

Add your toppings ( sauce first, then cheese, then sparingly with the rest of the toppings)

Hot oven it should take around 10 minutes in a domestic electric oven.

Hope this helps

Looks like Dusty beet me too it! Looks like we agree on the details though haha

I am an average home cook. There are dishes that I can do quite well, then there are those that will be just OK and than there is pizza.

This cry comes after my yesterdays attempt that failed so miserably that there was barely something to eat

I know that I can not really make 'true' pizza with an electric oven, but I would like to be able to produce at least acceptable results that me and my family could enjoy.

I have tried several ways to make the dough, but it nearly always turns into dry pad instead of nice, bread-like smelling crunchy&soft pizza base. I am probably doing wrong several things at a time, so I am not going to bore you with a description of my procedure.

So, would some of you more experienced/gifted share a recipe & how-to make some decent pizza at home kitchen conditions? My marriage does not depend on it, but me self esteem does

haha, i've had successes and failures making pizza in my oven. There is hope!

which dough recipe are you using? are you trying to make napoletana pizza or NY style?

guessing blindly based on my own failures, you're probably leaving it in the oven too long. At 550 f, 7 mins is optimal, maybe 10 if the dough is thick, but not longer than that.

I've been throwing pizza's for years and this is the best tasting dough I've ever had. Not even close. I reproduced this recipe exactly. They too about 2 minutes to cook. Without toppings, just cheese and sauce, they cook in about 60 seconds. Even in a regular over 9Kenmore Elite), by preheating to 550 for 20-25 min. I can get the steel plate to about 620--650

I don't like the way "traditional" pizza comes out in a home oven so I either make sheet tray focaccia pizza (staff meal classic), or make little flatbreads with toppings. Any naan recipe will work for this, just use ap flour in place of chapati(sp?) flour. I really like doing the flatbreads in the summer because you can do them on a grill or a flat pan and not have to heat your whole house up with an oven and stone.

If you are serious about making a better pizza, go to the forum at pizzamaking.com. (Hope it's okay to point to another forum here.) That has got to be the largest collection of pizza geeks and gurus on the planet. They can answer practically any question you have.

I have been making all the pizza my family eats at home for the last 5 years, and while I can quickly attest I am still a novice, I can give at least some helpful tips. Just to let you know the rabbit hole of pizza is the deepest one I've ever seen. You can fall down it and spend the rest of your life there. Literally.

It would help to know your general location in the world (to see what products you have access to), what your goal pizza is (Napoletana, New York, Chicago Deep Dish, "American" (think Pizza Hut Hand Tossed), or some other kind), what your baking setup is (do you have a stone? what is the highest temp your oven will go to?).

Right now, the type of flour you are using is the least important variable of everything your doing. Pick a decent bread flour that you can reliably get in your area and go with it until you get the hang of mixing, shaping, etc.

Once you give an idea to the above questions, I'll try and help as best I can.

Put the water & yeast together for 10 minutes to activate, then combine all the ingredients to form a dough, knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth & elastic. Place in a covered bowl to rise for an hour or so. Knock the dough back and divide into 3.
Roll each piece of dough into a tight ball. Allow to rest for at least half an hour.

Now roll out onto a tray, if you want it fluffier, allow to prove again once it's rolled out for 15 -20 minutes.

Add your toppings ( sauce first, then cheese, then sparingly with the rest of the toppings)

Hot oven it should take around 10 minutes in a domestic electric oven.

Hope this helps

Looks like Dusty beet me too it! Looks like we agree on the details though haha

this is essentially identical to my process, and works well, though i wish my gas oven got hotter (maxes out at about 550, according to my cheapo oven thermometer).